The prior art includes apparatus for withdrawing wire axially from a coil with counter-twist means for preventing kinking of the wire; see Haugwitz U.S. Pat. No. 3,101,916, issued Aug. 27, 1963. .Iadd.Without such counter-twist means, there may be an objectionable tendency of the loops of wire being removed from the coil to tighten up and kink, but with such counter-twist means this objectionable tendency can be overcome by imparting to the wire, after it is removed from the coil, a twisting force in a sense tending to open up or spread out the loops as they are cast, one by one, off the coil, so that such force in effect opposes the natural tendency of the wire loops to tighten up. .Iaddend.However, the apparatus of that patent has a geared drive system for the counter-twist means which is not adapted to be changed readily when changing from one coil size to another, and which cannot be adjusted during operation to vary the ratio of the speed of rotation of the counter-twist means to the linear speed of the wire. .Iadd.Instead, the optimum ratio must be determined by trial and error, being generally held down to the minimum value (i.e., the slowest speed of counter-twist rotation) which will successfully suppress the kinking tendency. .Iaddend.To change the speed ratio a new set of gears must be installed, and that evidently would require stopping and either cutting or rethreading the wire. Also, the single small roll around which the wire is initially looped may put even more bend in the wire than it had in the coil from which the wire is fed.